Tojurs Pur: A Story of the Black Family
by blue-eyed-beauty2012
Summary: This is a story of the early lives of Andromeda, Bellatrix, Sirius, Narcissa, and Regulus Black. A little AU. Takes place in present day New York City. NO MAGIC.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own the Black family. That is credited to J.K. Rowling. I only own my made up characters and the writing is mine.

Chapter 1

"Here you are, Miss."

Andromeda Black looked up. The young maid, whose name she thought was Allie, stood before her carrying several items. Among them was a large, white box tied with a red silk bow. The label was written in French, and Andy knew at first glance what the package contained.

Andromeda shut her copy of _Romeo and Juliet_ with a snap and laid it down on the emerald satin settee.

"Thank you, Allie", Andy said as kindly as she could. She knew the poor girl had been harassed by her elder sister a few minutes previously. The marble halls and corridors had a way of echoing everything that was spoken loudly throughout the entire mansion.

Allie bobbed her blonde head and exited the room, shutting the dark mahogony door behind her.

Andromeda practically bounced with excitement on the small couch. As soon as Allie's footsteps faded away, and no others were heard, Andy fairly ran towards the box that Allie had placed on the emerald and silver embellished table near the door. No matter how many times her mother ordered dresses from France, the thrill of the unknown gown within never failed to make Andromeda feel as though she were eight years old instead if eighteen. The red bow slid off easily and Andy's large brown eyes became round with astonishment at the sight of the ball gown.

Druella Black really had outdone herself this time. The golden silk strapless bodice looked as though thick ribbons of sunshine had been wrapped elegantly to form the top of the dress. Andromeda laid the gown gingerly out on her dark green bedspread. The dress stretched the entire width of the king size bed, perfect for Andy's long frame. The skirt was simply made; no embroidery or embellishments until the hem, which wasn't too gaudy. Only small, crystals were woven into a simple but beautiful design along the bottom. More gold fabric fell from beneath the top layer.

Andromeda could not stop staring. The dress was so perfectly to her taste, it was almost as though she had designed it herself. The source of most of her shock, however was that her mother had ordered this one. Usually her mother labored under the illusion that Andy prefered elaborate and outgoing designs like her two other daughters.

Her red lips still parted slightly, Andromeda glanced up at the box the dream gown had arrived in. To her surprise, she saw a smaller, velvet case inside. When her long fingers opened the box, Andy immediately knew why Druella Black had gone with a simple gown. She was making up for the simplicity of the dress with the jewelry.

There were two necklaces. One was a thick choker. The other several strands of beads and smaller chains. The bracelets were simple enough. They looked like extremely expensive bangles. The earings were four inches long, and there were extra silk ribbons in the bottom of the box that Andy assumed were for her hair. Everything was solid gold.

Andromeda sighed. The gold would compliment her dark hair and eyes, but she still felt like the accessories were a bit much.

Her reverie was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in", Andy called, adjusting her features into what she hoped was a polite and collected expression.

"Hello, Miss!", Lina Inesiano said excitedly, closing the door and swinging back around to face Andromeda.

Andy's face transformed into an actual smile at the sight of her best friend and personal maid. The young Hispanic's excitement and happiness were contagious.

"Hello, Lina", Andromeda said.

Lina ran gaily across the marble floors towards Andy. Her smile was the widest Andy could ever remember seeing it, and she knew what her friend was going to say even before she said it.

"Miss, he said yes! He said yes! He said yes! He's going to prom with me!", Lina sang out as she embraced Andromeda tightly.

"Oh, Liney I told you he would! A blind man could see that Kris Matthews is smitten with you!", Andy said as she held Lina at arm's length. None of the Blacks were very comfortable with outward signs of affection.

"I know, but I was so worried! I suppose he's just-"

Andromeda knew why Lina had stopped speaking. Her wide eyes had fallen on the ball gown and jewelry lain across the bed.

"Oh, Miss. It's the most beautiful dress I've ever seen", Lina said in an awestruck voice. She had always been more fond of fancy things than Andy.

Lina's longing expression made Andromeda's stomach squirm. The idea of the dress was already beginning to wear off to her, but Lina looked like she would give the world three times over to be able to wear it to her high school prom with Kris.

Lina expressed excitement for Andy and complimented the gown several more times before Andromeda was able to divert her attention back to Kris and prom. Lina dove into that subject, and soon the conversation was exactly like all of their other conversations. Lina chattered on and on and Andy listened and laughed occassionally, hardly ever getting a word in. She never minded Lina covering the dialogue. Andromeda was more of a thinker, and the quiet one in her family. All of her conversations with almost everybody were like this.

After a few minutes of animated discussions, which ranged from what Lina should wear to how to tell Kris that he needed to get a haircut before the big night, Lina stood up abruptly and said that she forgot about the tea that Mrs. Black was having downstairs in thirty minutes.

Andy had completely forgotten as well and did not want to be reminded of it. Teas and social calls from other wealthy women who came only to gossip and insult your possessions behind your back were more up her younger sister Narcissa's alley. Her only consolation was that she would not be alone in her suffering. Her elder sister, Bellatrix, hated pokey old women even more than Andromeda did. Bella prefered intelligent and heated debates with their father's dinner guests.

Andy absentmindedly said yes to the rose colored sundress and white hat and heels that Lina held up for approval. After assisting Andromeda into the dress, tights, and shoes, Lina ran her tan fingers through the taller girl's long, mahogany curls.

As Lina expertly pinned the locks back, Andy sat straight on the seat in front of the silver mirror. Lina began to talk about prom again.

"It's going to be so wonderful, Miss! The theme is going to be Monte Carlo and me and the rest of the prom committee are renting gambling tables and slot machines and other Las Vegas type things", Lina went on excitedly.

"We're also gettting a DJ and a disco ball and some really awesome lights.

"What's your school's prom theme, Miss?", Lina asked as an after thought.

"We don't have a prom", Andromeda said. "I don't think I would be allowed to go even if Agensen's did have one."

"Oh."

Lina's one word contained a note of something that made Andy's "Black pride" flare up. She was not used to people pitying her and she didn't like it. Everyone was supposed to think that the Blacks had everything.

_ If anyone should be pitied it's Lina,_ Andromeda thought spitefully. _If she thinks her public school prom is so great that-_

_ Stop that!,_ she ordered herself.

Andy took a deep breath. It scared her how easily she could turn into the condescending, evil little girl her parents had been trying to turn her into since before she could remember. They had succeeded with Bella and Cissy, but Andromeda had always resented their views on people of lesser means.

"There. If you don't set heads turning in that, I'll eat my foot", Lina said proudly, placing her hands on Andy's shoulders and pressing her head against her friend's.

Andromeda felt awful. She had thought such terrible things about a girl that was kind and helpful to her. And only because Lina had seen through the facade that Andy wore in front of everyone.

She was jealous of Lina. Even though Lina had so little compared to Andromeda.

_ But she does have more than you. She has a life._

Andy knew that was true. She'd known for a while. Even as she looked in the mirror at Lina's handiwork, she knew she didn't want this. She wanted to have a normal life like Lina. She wanted to be able to associate with whomever she wished, not the people her parents wished. And Andromeda wanted to do things regular teenagers did their senior year of high school. She wanted to go to prom and to football games. She wanted to go to the mall or the movies and just hang out. Andy knew she didn't want her days to be planned out as they were now. She wanted freedom.

Lina studied Andromeda's face and she looked worrisome.

"Well, I thought it looked nice, but if you don't like it, Miss, then I can-"

"Oh no, Lina! It's wonderful. You've done a beautiful job. I was just lost in thought."

Lina looked appeased, to Andy's delight.

"Thank you, Miss! Of course it helps when you have a beautiful subject to work with", Lina teased with a wink.

Andromeda smiled appreciatively.

Lina disappeared out the door a few seconds later to go and help set up the terrace for tea. Andy was left alone. She slipped on her lace gloves, picked up her small, silk handbag, and stole a last minute glance at the mirror.

She looked like everything a lady of her station should be. Her dark curls were pinned into a style that let her hair fall behind her to her mid-back. Her lips were a beautiful rosy red. Her wide, nearly black eyes stood out against her clear, porcelin skin.

On the outside, Andromeda Black was perfect. On the inside, she was screaming.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bang. Another perfect hit. Bang. Dead on the bullseye.

Bellatrix Black leaned down to pick up another box of bullets, her waist-length black braid falling over her ivory-skinned shoulder.

The eldest Black daughter cocked the pistol with particular venom. She'd just escaped from her mother's obominable luncheon and she needed to vent her frustration somehow.

As soon as the last guest, Mrs. Audura Lestrange, had taken her leave, Bellatrix dashed up the stairs two at a time; ignoring her mother's frantic calls of, "Bellatrix Black! A young lady does not rush! She _hastens_!"

She had slammed the door to her dark, mahogany-paneled bedroom, and thundered across the white, marble floor towards her closet. Bellatrix quickly grabbed a black tank top, a pair of tiny, blue jean shorts, and her favorite revolver from out of a secret compartment concealed under one of the floorboards in her wardrobe. After throwing her dark green dress unceremoniously on the floor, she'd quickly taken her wild, black hair out of the updo her maid, Allie, had formed earlier.

Five minutes after entering, Bellatrix _hastened_ down the staircase, her black converses echoing through the marble halls. Uncontrollable curls bounced against her flushed face as she attempted to plait her hair. She passed portrait after portrait of deceased ancestors that seemed to glare at her clothes and touseled locks as if they wanted to turn up their noses and tutt at her inapropriate behavior. Bellatrix finally reached the heavy front door. Turning the silver, serpant handle, she disappeared into the pale, just-before-dusk glow.

Bella considered herself a good Black. Possibly the best of her generation. After all, she could do and did all that a Black was supposed to do to the best of her ability. She could hold her own in a fight against anybody or anything that crossed her path. She was well aquainted with everyone that had healthy connections, and she snubbed and ridiculed the people who weren't beneficial to her future. Granted, Bellatrix did have a horrible temper, an independant spirit, and a particulary extra dose of pride than the average Black, but she always knew where the line was. The very thin line between an appropriate amount of rebellion (that most of the Blacks, her father included, valued as an endearing quality) and embarrassing the family. But the best thing Bella would ever do for the Blacks would take place in three months.

At the tender age of sixteen, Bellatrix had captured the attention of twenty-four year old millionaire, Rodolphus Lestrange. They had been dating for two years when he asked for her hand.

It was the night of her graduation party. Bella was wearing a low-cut, black, strapless mini dress, and Rodolphus told her she had never looked more stunning. He had led her out into the gardens and walked straight to the rod-iron bench, nestled amongst the rose bushes and jasmine vines; wine glass in one hand, Bellatrix's white hand in the other.

After she was seated, he wasted no time on romantic sentiments or cutesy little ways letting Bella find the ring: Rodolphus simply dropped down on one knee in front of the seat, and asked her straight out, placing a giant diamond ring encircled with emeralds on her finger. His lack of sublety and tact didn't bother Bellatrix. It was her style, as well as his. She'd never liked it when people beat around the bush.

No one was suprised when the newly graduated Bella came in with her long term boyfriend and annouced that they were engaged. Of course, none of her family was surprised; everyone on Black Row (the gated community where all the Blacks lived) knew about Rodolphus's intentions a mere two days after he had been granted permission to marry Bella from her father, Cygnus Black. Even though she was not aware that he was going to pop the question within four hours of her graduation, the fact that Rodolphus proposed did not surprise Bellatrix in the least.

She'd known that she had him hooked since the first time they kissed. Bella had decided on Rodolphus when she was fourteen. He was financially secure, handsome, and eight years her senior. Which meant that Rodolphus would already have a nice house, have inherited his millions, and have a stable job when she became old enough for marriage.

When Bellatrix and Rodolphus annouced their engagement, she'd seen some of the women in the crowd purse their lips. They had lost yet another eligible bachelor to a Black daughter. Bella had smirked and gloated in their displeasure. She'd always gotten what she wanted, and she had succeeded once again.

Bellatrix had been happy and excited about the prospect of marrying Rodolphus at the time, and it even carried through almost nine months of planning. But with the big day drawing ever nearer, Bella had begun to feel perfectly giddy. Even the sour mood the tea had placed on the nineteen year old was beginning to wear off, as thoughts of the wedding (particularly the wedding night) and Rodolphus began to take over.

Not frustrated anymore, Bellatrix began to pack up her bullets and pistol. While she was shoving the nose of the gun into its holder, she heard footsteps. Looking up, Bella saw the tall outline of her seventeen year old cousin, Sirius.

His charming grin began to fade when he saw her face. She expected he Sirius had mistaken her for Andromeda. The resemblance between Bellatrix and her younger sister was uncanny. You might have thought they were twins unless you were up close or they were standing next to each other. Or, like Sirius, you saw them on a regular enough basis to be able to tell the difference at a glance.

"What did you do this time?", Bella asked after looking at her younger cousin and quickly assessing that he had been "punished" by his parents.

"Got in late", he shrugged; wincing slightly at the abrupt movement.

"How late?"

"Two hours past curfew." Sirius didn't look the least bit guilty.

"Tell me", Bellatrix began as she shot another bullet at the target. "Do you _enjoy_ antagonizing them?"

"Well", he said; leaning elegantly against the side of Bella's house. "If I'm going to have to live out my life in this prison, I might as well enjoy what little freedom I have to the full extent."

Bellatrix cast Sirius a glare.

_The little brat is so ungrateful_, she thought scathingly. _Doesn't he realize how lucky he is? Everyone in New York wants to be us._

Sirius had been speaking, but Bella had been so lost in her own thoughts that she only caught the end of his sentence.

"-so we hightailed it out of there. We made it halfway to the Potters', but then the car ran out of gas and we-"

"What did you say?", Bellatrix hissed through her teeth.

Sirius seemed to register what he had said after his elder cousin called it to his attention.

"N-nothing. I just said- well- what I meant to say was", he stammered nervously. "We-I mean I-"

"You were with that Potter boy again, weren't you?", Bella's voice shook with suppressed rage.

The Potters were the Blacks arch-enemies. They hated the Blacks and the Blacks hated them. The animosity stemmed from so long ago, that nobody really knew what had started it. Some of the older members of the Black family made up various reasons that ranged from simple ones like cheating in card games or a Potter and a Black being in love with the same girl. But then there were the more elaborate ones like a Potter getting an important job that one of the Blacks wanted or someone committing adultery with someone else's wife: Each tale was as unlikely as the next.

But no matter what the reason, all of the Blacks were taught from infancy to hate the Potter family.

Sirius just looked stunned for a moment, then defiant.

"Yes, I was." He sqared his shoulders and glared at Bellatrix. She thought, quite reluctantly, that this was very brave considering she had a fully loaded pistol in her hand.

"_And_", Sirius added as an afterthought. "I was with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, too."

Bella could feel her eyes widening.

Remus Lupin was one of the kids that went to their expensive prep school on scholarship. He lived in a small, dingy part of Greenvich Village with his mother. His father had died of a stroke or something when he was thirteen leaving he and his already ill mother without a penny to speak of. Not that the Lupins had ever had any money to begin with, but his salary had assisted with their already limited means.

And Peter Pettigrew was almost as unworthy as the Lupin trash. Even though the Pettigrews had some money (upper-middle class, lower upper-class she believed) the seventeen year old stump of a boy didn't belong at Agensen's House. Bellatrix had absolutely no idea how Pettigrew had managed to link himself with, as much as it pained her to admit it, the most popular boys in the eleventh grade. From what she had heard from Narcissa (the sixteen year old gossip knew everything about everybody, no matter how unworthy they were of her attention) nobody else, not even Sirius, that _Potter_, or the minimum wage scholarship boy, knew how he had become part of their group either; he was just there one day in fifth grade and no one had ever kicked him out.

Bella's shock at Sirius's revelation was momentary: no Black was ever at a loss for words for more than a few seconds.

She turned away from the battered, but never broken, seventeen year old.

Bellatrix cocked her pistol and aimed at the target. "Does your mother know about the over-glorified Potter, the trash, the ignoramus?"

Bella could hear Sirius's breathing hitch as she fired.

He opened his mouth as if to retaliate, but seemed to think better of it at the last minute.

She turned and looked into his young face that was almost a male replica of her own. He took a deep breath and seemed to sag a quarter of an inch: no Black ever slouched completely.

Bellatrix turned her red lips up in her signature smirk. The Black smirk. She placed her favorite weapon inside its case and walked away from her younger cousin.

_If he would just realize what he has in front of him, he could be great._

Bella's thoughts remained remained triumphant as the jubilant truth echoed inside her pretty head:

_But never as great as me._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"GO TO YOUR ROOM! NOW!!!"

Sirius picked himself up off the black marble floor. He didn't like to obey his parents but right now there was nothing he wanted more than to get out of range of his mother's wrath.

He all but ran out of the parlor. His father, Orion Black, had not once looked up from his newspaper, even when he said his wife's name: that one word from the awesome and forbidding head of Sirius's family's branch of the Black clan had automatically ceased Walburga Black's repetitive kicking to her eldest son's rib cage. Orion had know that this was not a cause worthy of his input. Sirius always knew that he was in for a heck of a time if his father told him to "wait in the study". The walks to the study were always like walking to your execution. Sirius knew that that room was Orion Black's domain and to enter it whilst Mr. Black was angry with you, even cross meant severe pain or devastation.

As he walked past said room on his way to the staircase he was silently thankful that his father had not been too upset with his stunt at dinner.

The Notts had dined with Sirius, his parents, and his younger brother Regulus that night; Walburga Black was always inviting these particular Notts to dinner at least three times a week and to every social function that was held on Black Row. It wasn't that she particularly _liked_ them; as a matter of fact, Mrs. Black _hated_ Mrs. Eliza Nott. No, the only reason that the Thorton Nott family was allowed anywhere near Black Row was because they had two daughters: Emily and Seville. Sirius involuntarily shuddered. _Emily and Seville_.

Besides their _horrible_ looks, the Nott girls were absolutely _vulgar_. They apparently had not been subjected to the same insanely strict upbringing that the Black children had: the girls had had governess after governess to teach them everything they needed to know about being ladies of decorem and about their places in society. Sirius and Regulus had been forced to sit for hours during their early childhood and listen to an endless number of tutors instruct them on the ways of gentlemen.

Sirius could almost endure Seville but unfortunately she was for Regulus. Sirius was stuck with entertaining Emily. The eldest Nott daughter was two years his senior and impecably hideous. Her dirty-blonde hair was strait as a board. However, the nineteen year old still labored under the delusion that she could make it have the same soft, beautiful bounce that the Black sisters managed to create. As a result, Miss Nott's hair was frizzy and broken in some places from constant application of heat. Her eyes were a murky grey, not at all like his and Regulus's. Their's were the grey-blue shade of their mother's side, the Malfoys. Emily Nott always applied too much make-up that made her look like she was a member of a three ring circus. And she and her sister always wore extremely unflattering gowns that accented the worst of their qualities: Emily's bone-skinny build and Seville's chunky structure. Also, the Misses Nott were only concerned with what every girl in New York society obsessed over: Who the Black boys would marry.

All this aside, Walburga Black still thought that these girls would be good matches for her sons; not wonderful, but good. Sirius knew she wanted Regulus married so that her favorite boy would be able to inherit his share of the fortune and he, Sirius, married so that he would be out of the house.

Mrs. Black had lectured both of her sons intently on these facts before the Notts had arrived. She had kept her icy grey eyes on Sirius's face for almost the entirety of her speech. After she had done, Mr. Black had gripped his eldest son's injured shoulder (the aftermath of his punishment from earlier in the day) painfully. Sirius had inhaled sharply through his nose but did nothing else to betray the throbbing agony his left shoulder was experiencing. He could feel Regulus's concerned glance on his right and attempted to mask his pain even more: He didn't like his sixteen year old brother worrying about him.

His father's black eyes bored into Sirius's emotionless face as he whispered dangerously: "If you embarrass us tonight you will-"

There was a knock at the door. The Blacks arranged themselves in positions that suggested that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. This was not difficult because something rare had not happened.

The butler had announced the arrival of the Notts and after several tedious minutes of conversation, the two families adjourned to the dining room. Instinct told Sirius where the elder Miss Nott's seat was located and to pull out her chair. His upbringing informed him where he was to sit, how he was to sit, and what he was supposed to discuss with this girl that he hated.

Everything was going surprisingly well, until-

_"DUDE!!!!! ANSWER YOUR PHONE!!!!"_

Everyone in the room, Sirius included, froze. Unlike the other diners, the seventeen year old knew where that noise was coming from: His pocket. He had forgotten to leave his Blackberry in his room. Needless to say the phone continued to ring and it did not take long for everyone in the room to realize whose phone was shouting at them to answer it.

Directly after the Notts had taken their leave, Mrs. Black had directed Sirius to the parlor, firmly grasping his upper-arm all the way. Mr. Black followed in their wake and, unseen to all, Regulus somehow managed to slip upstairs: He knew what was coming. And despite what his mother thought, Sirius knew that the staff realized as well.

As soon as they were safely inside Walburga Black's favorite sitting room and the door was firmly shut by Orion, Mrs. Black had roughly shoved her son causing him to stumble briefly. Sirius straightened up. Even though he stood at least two inches above his mother, she always seemed to have the upper hand.

Sirius knew the sequence in which the blows would come; somewhere along the line of punishing her eldest son Walburga had developed a pattern.

The slap came first. His head snapped to the left and he only briefly had time to register his mother's hand flying towards the right side of his face. She backhanded him, knocking him off balance. Sirius felt something hard strike his head as he crashed to the floor. Then came the kicks, one after another. The black haired boy involuntarily curled into a ball, bringing his knees up to protect his rib cage. Then finally she stopped. Sirius had barely heard his father calmly and a little monotonously saying, "Walburga." It was one of the only times in the entire seventeen years of his life he was glad to hear Mr. Black's voice.

Now, after what had felt like an eternity but had really only been a couple of hours, Sirius reentered his bedroom. He colapsed backwards onto his scarlett bed. His room was the only one in the whole house to include red. All of the others were decorated in the Blacks' signature color: emerald.

Sirius ran a hand over his face and felt something warm and wet. He sat up and walked to his adjacent restroom. His normally ivory complexion was bright red on the left side where he could almost see Mrs. Black's handprint. His right cheekbone had a cut on it: It wasn't large but it was releasing blood. He then gingerly touched the back of his head where the throbbing was the greatest. He could feel a knot coming up where, he now realized, he must have hit his head on the end table next to where he fell in the parlor. His ribs were only slightly sore. Sirius had had broken ribs before and this wasn't how it felt but he did know that by the morning he would most likely have several bruises lining his abdomen.

The Black heir picked up one of the washcloths laying next to the marble bathtub. He ran it under warm water from the sink and slowly began to dab the tender spot on his cheek.

Sirius knew it wasn't supposed to be like this. Even though the abuse had been going on as long as he could remember, he knew. He knew because of the Potters.

James wasn't treated like this. Sirius had stayed at the Potter mansion more times than he could count and they didn't act like the Blacks: they actually _loved_ each other.

The Blacks didn't love. Not really, truly _love_. There hadn't been a marriage for the sole reason of love in the Black family in years. Not since Cedrella had run off and married Septimus Weasley and that had been at least twenty-five years ago and now she was an unspeakable, burnt off the family tree forever.

_And wasn't that such a punishment?_, Sirius thought sarcastically.

No, not even Bella and Rodolphus were marrying _only_ for love. Sirius's determined elder cousin would never have picked Rodolphus Lestrange had he not been a millionaire. He wasn't _that_ handsome.

Andy didn't have a love interest, although Sirius did know that Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus's brother that was two years his junior, had his sights set on Sirius's beloved cousin.

Even though Narcissa and Lucius had fallen in love, they weren't together because they had been smitten with one another from the beginning. They were together because of their parents arranging it so that they danced together at Cissy's fifteenth birthday ball.

Sirius didn't think that Regulus was in love or at least the sixteen year old didn't have a girlfriend. But that was not for want of a girl who would say yes. Any young lady would be mad to refuse the Black charm and good looks that Sirius and his younger brother both shared.

While Sirius did _love_ girls he had yet to be truly, deeply, _passionately_ in love. On the off chance that Sirius did develop feelings for a girl, it was all superficial.

Although he would never admit it to James or Peter (he might tell Remus), Sirius did want to be in love. He had longed for it since he had stopped thinking that girls had cooties and were vile creatures that were to be avoided at all costs. He wanted what the Potters, Daniel and Sharon, had.

He had always known he was different than his family and desiring to marry for love was only one of the many causes of his parents' hatred, his aunts and uncles' disaproval, Bella's anger, Regulus's concern, Cissy's impatience, and Andy's companionship.

Even though he sometimes had to fight it with all of the willpower that he possessed and even though he paid for it dearly when it was "punishment" time, Sirius rejoiced beyond all measure that he was not like _them_.


End file.
